William Shakespeare on Justice
1564–1616 England
← All quotes by William Shakespeare
69 quotes
He took my father grossly, full of bread;
With all his crimes broad blown, as flush as May;
And how his audit stands who knows save heaven?
Therefore I say again,
I utterly abhor, yea from my soul
Refuse you for my judge; whom, yet once more,
I hold my most malicious foe, and think not
At all a mend to truth.
Henry VIII (1613)
What we oft do best,
By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
Not ours, or not allow'd; what worst, as oft,
Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up
For our best act.
Henry VIII (1613)
Portia: To offend, and judge, are distinct offices
And of opposed natures.
Merchant of Venice (1596)
I show it most of all when I show justice;
For then I pity those I do not know,
Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall;
And do him right that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another.
Measure for Measure (1603)
I have done the state some service, and they know't;
No more of that, I pray you, in your letters,
When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,
Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,
Nor set down aught in malice.
Othello (1603)
O, pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth,
That I am meek and gentle with these butchers!
Thou art the ruins of the noblest man
That ever lived in the tide of times.
Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy.
Angelo: Thieves for their robbery have authority
When judges steal themselves.
Measure for Measure (1604)
In the corrupted currents of this world,
Offence's gilded hand may shove by justice;
And oft 'tis seen the wicked prize itself
Buys out the law: but 'tis not so above;
There is no shuffling, there the action lies
In his true nature; and we ourselves compell'd,
Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults,
To give in evidence.